1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to waterborne craft, and more particularly to the use of flexible adjustable cambered foils to obtain a very high ratio of speed to horsepower by enhancing lift, performance and stability in rough water in a hydrofoil craft. The present invention is particularly applicable to all types of watercraft including, but not limited to v-bottom and catamaran boat hulls incorporating hydrofoils.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional, modified boat hull and method of modifying the boat hull have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,896,621 and 4,951,591 to Coles, the entirety of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The inventions of Coles have been described to obtain enhanced lift, shock mitigation, and rough water stability for vessels.
The method includes defining or modifying with chine aerofoil skirts an axial tunnel(s) intermediate the bow and transom of the boat hull, positioning flexible dihedral foils below the water line and on the bow so as to obstruct and create turbulence in the forward end of the tunnel while cushioning and lifting the bow. Simultaneously, the transom end of the tunnel is enclosed with stern foils so as to compress said turbulence and thereby lift the transom.
The following references generally describe the related art and are related to the aforementioned technology, specifically U.S. Pat. No. 2,989,279 (Le Bel); U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,811 (Danahy); U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,545 (Warner); U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,810 (Westfall); U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,347 (Cohen et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,526 (Smoot); U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,436 (Lathers et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,291 Hoppe; U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,697 (Allegretti); U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,851 (April); U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,390 (Wray); U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,853 (Gerdsen et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,663 (Lo Bue); U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,304 (Steinberg); U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,120 (Koriagin); U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,621 (Coles); U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,400 (Walker); U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,591 (Coles); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,384 (Coles). Foreign Patent Documents 477050 (Australia), 124594 (New Zealand), and 1421624 (France) are also related to the background of the invention.
The present inventor has discovered that there are numerous shortcomings with the related art that, as overcome by the present invention, will result in superior vessel design to obtain a very high ratio of speed to horsepower by enhancing lift, performance and stability in rough water, particularly with respect to a hydrofoil craft.